$1.5 million tournament: Nodirbek Abdusattorov advances to the playoffs of the World Cybersports Championship

$1.5 million tournament: Nodirbek Abdusattorov advances to the playoffs of the World Championship in eSports

Nodirbek Abdusattorov has advanced to the playoffs of the 2026 World Championship in eSports. This competition is considered one of the largest online chess tournaments in the world.

The second-ranked grandmaster of Uzbekistan, representing the NAVI (Natus Vincere) team, successfully played in the group stage. He defeated Pranesh from India 2:0 in the first round. In the semi-finals, Abdusattorov played against Jan Krzysztof Duda from Poland and easily won both games. As a result, the Uzbek grandmaster, along with Alireza Firuzja, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, secured a place in the playoffs. Now, 4 more chess players from the losers' lane will fight for a place in the quarter-finals.

The chess players will compete in the "10+0" rapid format. The participant who loses twice will be eliminated from the championship. The total prize fund of the tournament is 1.5 million US dollars, and the winner will receive a prize of 250 thousand US dollars.

For information, Nodirbek Abdusattorov participated in the 2025 Esports World Cup as part of the NAVI team, took 5th place and won a prize of 85 thousand US dollars. Javohir Sindorov, a representative of Team Vitality, who finished in the group stage that year, was awarded 50 thousand US dollars. He did not participate in this year's competition.